1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device for luminously displaying a desired form, such as a character or a number. The display device of the present invention is used as a decorative item for a vehicle, such as a scuff plate for an automobile or a vehicle interior ceiling ornament, and as a decorative mount for a name plate on a house exterior or as a ceiling ornament inside a house or a building.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automobile scuff plate device that luminously displays characters and provides a decorative effect has been put to practical use. An example of a scuff plate device 100, of a conventional light transmission type, is shown in FIG. 7. For the scuff plate device 100, a character plate 101 (e.g., an aluminum plate), in which characters having a desired form have been stamped out, is laminated on a rectangular light guidance plate 102, to which a white backing material has been applied. At one longitudinal end of the light guidance plate 102 a light source 103 is mounted. Then, when the light source 103 for the scuff plate device 100 is turned on, light is guided into the light guidance plate 102, via the end of the light guidance plate 102, and is reflected from the reverse face of the light guidance plate 102 and directed towards the upper face of the light guidance plate 102. As a result, light is output from the upper face of the light guidance plate 102, and reaches the character plate 101. Then, part of the light is emitted, through the stamped out portions in the character plate 101, luminously displaying the desired characters. In addition to this arrangement, various display devices having other arrangements have been proposed (see, for example, patent documents 1 to 3).
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2002-279817
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2005-221661
Patent Document 3: JP-A-2006-062431
According to a conventional scuff plate device, specific decorative effects are obtained by luminously displaying characters. However, since the characters are bright only in the plane, the decorative effect obtained is not fully satisfactory, and an increased sense of luxury is desirable. To this end, however, even though the stereoscopic effect is enhanced, to a degree, when the thickness of the character plate is increased, the maximum, effectively acquired stereoscopic depth effect is equivalent only to the thickness of the character plate. Furthermore, an attempt to provide a more luxurious luminous image by increasing the thickness of the character plate serves only to improve the stereoscopic effect; no marked improvement in the decorative effect is acquired when the means used to achieve this objective is a mere increase in the thickness of the character plate. In addition, since the thickness of the character plate directly affects the thickness of the entire device, and because design requirements impose limits on the thickness of the device, thickening the character plate is not a viable solution.